Friday, March 10, 2017

“Former Yugoslavia”? Yugoslavia ceased to exist in 1992. That was 25
years ago. Why is that still a point of reference? Why don’t they say he
is from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire? Can’t the police be a bit
more specific? Is this axe attacker a Catholic from Croatia? Orthodox
from Serbia? Or…a Muslim from Bosnia or Kosovo? Why are authorities
being so coy, just as they were in the case of the Heidelberg
vehicle/knife attack, in which they identified the attacker
as a “German national” without releasing his name or addressing the
question of his religion? This doesn’t allay suspicions, it only
increases them. And given the fact that terror motives have been
dismissed in so very many other cases, including the Fort Hood jihad
massacre, unless and until we receive more information the authorities’
assertion that this was not terror cannot prudently be taken at face
value. What’s more, obvious jihad attacks have often been dismissed as acts by people with “mental health problems.”
“Man arrested after injuring seven people in Düsseldorf axe attack,” Guardian, March 9, 2017:

A man was arrested after injuring seven people with an
axe at Düsseldorf’s main train station on Thursday night, police have
said.
In a statement, they described the man as a 36-year-old from the
former Yugoslavia who apparently had mental health problems. Police said
three of the victims were seriously injured, with the others suffering
minor injuries. The suspect was also injured.
Earlier, a spokesman for federal police had said two people were
arrested and further attackers might be on the run. This was later
corrected by police who confirmed only one arrest.
Police said there was no indication of a terrorist motive behind the attack….